I've just finished reading about a revolutionary new pistol cartridge, the .30 Super Carry which came out very recently and is now well on its way to the list of unsuccessful botique cartridges.
Revolutionary my eye. It's just another botique cartridges designed to get shooters all amped up enough to open their wallets.
Everything gunmakers do gets listed as revolutionary or high tech. The truth is the last 'revolutionary' thing to happen in the handgun world was when Glock started using polymeyer, a plastic. When you look at it, using plastics really isn't too revolutionary. The basic mechanics and chemistry hasn't really changed.
Going back to practical basics, there has not been much of a change in handguns since the turn of the 20th century when semi automatic pistols arrived on scene.
We still use the same basic fixed cartridges we have used since the mid 1800s. The 1911 model pistol that served from pre WW1 is still being used in one form or another by the military and in the civilian world is far from being obsolete. It does the job it was created to and pretty much just as well and the newest latest and greatest.
The actions of the newest, latest and greatest still rely on the mehcanics developed decades ago and pretty much do what they did back in the day. They launch a projectile.
Of course, things have improved with advances in chemistry. We no longer use black powder, smokeless is the norm these days.
So why is everything so revolutionary?
Enter gunwriters who heve the amazing ability to pull things out of thin air. "The 1911 has been entirely remodeled with the addition of the special knurled slide stop. Unlike the previously serrated slide stop this exciting new one is knurled! It's been approved by BATFE for sale in the civilian market and makes the pistol far more efficient for home defense."
So a week after the article comes out Joe Gun nut hears someone breaking in and because he has a serrated slide stop he feels underarmed without the knurled one and bails out a window.
(Meanwhile across town Henry 'Pops' Schelpp, a 97 year old WW2 veteran puts four green corroded .22 shorts into the foreheads of four home invaders with an 1898 model rolling block Stevens his father gave him when he was 12 to shoot rabbits with. He bought the ammo in 1941 just before he enlisted after Pearl Harbor and hasn't fired a gun since 1945 when he left the service.)
I make no apologies about not getting excited with the new and improved revolutionary things gunmakers come out with unless I can see with my own eyes and make my own judgement that the improvement is really worth the time, effort and money to get it.
As far as the amazing .30 Super Carry goes, when I first heard about it I figured it wouldn't make the cut. About the only pistol cartridges that have stood the test of time well are the .45 ACP, the 9mm Luger, the .38 Special, the .357 magnum and of course the .22 rimfire.
You are correct. The same can be said of rifle calibers. For North American game the 30-06 will do the trick very well, and for brush busting deer hunting the 30-30 is the go to rifle. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors to entice new shooters with the be all and end all new weapons and calibers, but to me it seems it is the same old song and dance.
ReplyDeleteThere is an old saying,'Change is inevitable, but progress is not'.